Nightmare on 34th Street

Stumbling upon the 2023 horror comedy movie "Nightmare On 34th Street", from writer and director James Crow, here in 2024, of course I opted to sit down and watch it, as it was horror comedy that I hadn't already seen. Sure, I had never heard about the movie prior to stumbling upon it, so I didn't know what I was in for, nor did I have any expectations. Granted, as I am not overly much a fan of horror anthologies in general, then I might have skipped on "Nightmare On 34th Street" if I had known that it was a horror anthology prior to watching it. But having started on the movie already before figuring out it was an anthology, I opted to give writer and director James Crow the benefit of the doubt. Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list here. It should be noted that the acting performances were actually not too bad, just a shame that the contents of the script was subpar and giving the performers very little to work with. I have to say that I found little enjoyment in the stories, or segments, of this anthology, so I should have skipped on it and just chalked it up on a hunch of it being probably just another bad horror anthology. It felt like a rather ambitious home video project. "Nightmare On 34th Street" is listed as a horror comedy. Right. Well, you have to look hard and turn over every stone in order to find the comedy here. If you enjoy horror anthologies, do yourself a favor and skip on this one, because this anthology just simply isn't worth the time, money or effort. My rating of "Nightmare On 34th Street" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

If you're after a Hollywood blockbuster with high production values and mega--stars, then look elsewhere. But if you want a fun, festive concoction of great little stories showing imagination, and with varied locations and fine cinematography, then this is worth a watch. James Crow is a hugely under-rated Writer and Director. Coralling a cast of 90 across two hours of fast-paced story-telling is no mean feat, especially within the confines of a limited budget from an independent production company. For this alone, the film and the Director deserve immense praise (and my high score!). Clearly written to be a 'tongue-in-cheek' presentation of Christmas-related stories, Nightmare on 34th Street should be watched under a cosy duvet with a hot mug of soup at hand - it is entertaining, funny and not too mentally taxing. The film is not overly complicated, but just comprises good old clever storytelling. Some of the acting is first-class by a number of very good actors who are by no means household names, who are responsive to the needs of each storyline to be either naturalistic or slightly 'over the top'. However, some of the younger actors are not up to scratch and detract from a couple of the stories. The anthology concept works well and there is a clear and logical golden thread running through the film. My biggest criticisms are that overall the film is perhaps half an hour too long, and there are just a few too many unnecessary deaths in the stories. But overall, it is witty, entertaining and fun. The film is definitely one to be watched every year to balance out the Christmassy Rom-Coms and schmaltzy sentimentality on offer at each year end.

Nightmare On 34th Street is an anthology consisting of 4 Christmas themed horror shorts...with the overarching theme being that they are being told to a young boy, by a disgruntled Santa Claus- turned killer- on Christmas Eve. The first story is about the exploits of a gang of serial killers that are dressed up as "Mr. Red", an elf, and snowman...who have kidnapped a pair of siblings, and brainwashed them to join their killing spree, after having killed their parents. The next tale is about a struggling, coke addicted, ventriloquist, whose puppet is a vulgar snowman named "Mr. White"...and possibly also a killer. The third story revolves around a mentally ill mother who is egged on by Krampus to kill her kids. While the last story is about a killer priest- who buries his victims alive- getting his comeuppance. As far as low budget anthologies go...this one isn't half bad. Though, the quality of the shorts vary. With the one about the ventriloquist and his snowman puppet standing out above the rest. That being said...the writing is better than the execution. As some might be turned off by the production quality. But it seems, to me, that they did pretty well with what they had to work with. Though I felt it could have been a little bit shorter. That aside, I thought it was entertaining enough...in a very mid kind of way. 3.5 out of 10.

source: Nightmare on 34th Street

Nightmare On 34th Street is an anthology consisting of 4 Christmas themed horror shorts...with the overarching theme being that they are being told to a young boy, by a disgruntled Santa Claus- turned killer- on Christmas Eve. The first story is about the exploits of a gang of serial killers that are dressed up as "Mr. Red", an elf, and snowman...who have kidnapped a pair of siblings, and brainwashed them to join their killing spree, after killing their parents. The next tale is about a struggling, coke addicted, ventriloquist, whose puppet is a vulgar snowman named "Mr. White"...and possibly also a killer. The third story revolves around a mentally ill mother who is egged on by Krampus to kill her kids. While the last story is about a killer priest- who buries his victims alive- getting his comeuppance. As far as low budget anthologies go...this one isn't half bad. Though, the quality of the shorts vary. With the one about the ventriloquist and his snowman puppet particularly standing out. That being said...the writing is better than the execution. Some might be turned off by the production quality. But it seems, to me, that they did pretty well with what they had to work with. Though I felt it could have been a little bit shorter. That aside, I thought it was entertaining enough...in a mid kind of way. 3.5 out of 10.

After killing off his family, a deranged killer dressed as Santa Claus decides to tell the young child left behind vicious stories about the holiday. The Good Stor(ies): Story 2-Staying home to watch his brothers, a teen tries not to let his friend rob the house end up succumbing to a crazed killer running loose in the house. This turned out to be a generally fun and likable slasher short. The idea of the specific killer coming to the house and conducting the rampage they do against the rotten group of friends that are present there is a lot of fun and features some great aftermath kills that lead to the big twist revealed in the end which is quite shocking to see in concept yet shows off the one lone issue here in how it doesn't make any logical sense to how everything takes place. This is due to how the twist affects the events that took place previously, but beyond this, there's not much to dislike with this one. The Bad Stor(ies): Story 1-After their Christmas is ruined, a strained family fallen on hard times is visited by the mischievous Krampus to play off a spur-of-the-moment wish. This was a genuinely disappointing effort that does have some promise. The great setup is something that can have a bit of fun involved with the early setup showing how their lives have turned out for the holiday for the holiday and the antics of their unwarranted visitor result in some gruesome encounters that give this some likable qualities. However, only the mother is sympathetic with everyone else being selfish pricks unhappy with their lot in life and the whole affair is draped in an air of low-budget indifference that robs this of the atmosphere it's trying to present. Story 3-Left alone with her client, a health-care worker alerts a woman and her husband that the house has been overrun by a group of youths seeking revenge for his past. There was a decent idea at the center of this one but not much else going for it. The uncertainty of the mysterious quote and its purpose gives this a bit of intrigue as this goes along but there's not a lot otherwise going on here with the reveal undergoing a lot of the mystery in this one. That brings about a general air of apathy here that's immensely underwhelming as that makes the whole affair less intimidating and imposing than it had been beforehand so this just ends up being a giant waste with the purpose being undone by these revelations. Story 4-After being fired from his job, a man who works as a mall store Santa invades a series of residences seeking revenge on various families. This was a massive misfire of a segment that has very little going for it. The main purpose has potential until the majority of the kills are carried out by poisoning as most of the actual kills take place off-camera and stumbling upon it later while the poisoning bits only seem to work if the characters who continually find the particular poisoned objects and proceed to eat them so they look like braindead morons of the worst order. With an unlikable family and lame setups to continue the rampage being the wrap-around background, this is a bit underwhelming to end this on. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and children-in-jeopardy.